Ruccin Keeps Ducks in a Position to Win

The Mighty Ducks’ Steve Rucchin may not be the most smooth skater, but when it comes to position hockey, he’s second to none. That’s the key behind Rucchin’s success in matching up against two of the game’s most dangerous centermen.

After frustrating Sergei Fedorov in the Ducks’ four-game sweep over Detroit, Rucchin was at it again Thursday night against the Dallas Stars’ Mike Modano. In playing 52 minutes 13 seconds in the Ducks’ five-overtime Game 1 victory, Rucchin helped keep Modano from scoring a goal and picked one up himself.

It’s this type of gritty effort that makes the Ducks such a difficult team to beat. Every player first-year Coach Mike Babcock calls on is willing to make sacrifices to help the Ducks win. If it wasn’t someone such as Keith Carney or Niclas Havelid going to the ice to block a shot, it was a hustling forward such as Rob Niedermayer or Mike Leclerc getting back on defense to back-check.

But of course, having Jean-Sebastien Giguere in goal definitely makes a difference. With 60 saves against the Stars in Game 1, Giguere became the first goaltender in NHL history to record two single-game performances of 60 stops or more in the same playoff season. Giguere made 63 saves against the Red Wings in his playoff debut.

A breakdown of Game 2:

DALLAS’ MOVE -- The Stars are expected to get a boost today with the return of injured winger Bill Guerin, who led the Stars in power-play goals during the regular season. With Guerin in the lineup, instead of seldom used David Oliver, Dallas Coach Dave Tippett will be able to balance his lines better and skate his fourth line more often than he did in Game 1.

But the real key for the Stars is starting with the same energy they exhibited in the first four overtimes Thursday. After regulation, Dallas dominated the puck with aggressive forechecking, forcing the Ducks to make safe plays instead of attacking the Stars’ zone. If that happens again, the Stars will have an edge.

The Stars can also help themselves by keeping traffic in front of Giguere and deflecting as many shots as possible. Because if Giguere can see the puck, chances are, he’s going to make the save.

DUCKS’ MOVE -- Babcock stepped up with several effective moves in Game 1 by juggling his lines and breaking up his top line of Paul Kariya, Adam Oates and Petr Sykora. Because the Ducks are the road team, expect Babcock to keep Kariya on a line with Rucchin and Niedermayer, a strategy that worked well.

Oates will continue to center a line with Sykora and Leclerc, while Steve Thomas, Samuel Pahlsson and rookie Stanislav Chistov gave the Ducks energy as a third line. The fourth line is a threat with center Jason Krog.

The Ducks will also have to continue to counterattack and get their shots high against goaltender Marty Turco, who likes to take away the bottom of the net.

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Mighty Ducks vs. Dallas

*--* Best-of- seven series (* if necessar y) Game 1 MIGHT Ducks lead series, 1-0 Y DUCKS 4, at DALLA S 3 (5 OT) Game 2 at Today noon Channel 7 Dalla s Game 3 at Monday 7 Fox Sports Net, ESPN Arrow head Pond Game 4 at Wednesday 7 Fox Sports Net, ESPN Arrow head Pond Game 5 at May 3* noon Channel 7 Dalla s Game 6 at May 5* 7:30 Fox Sports Net 2, ESPN Arrow head Pond Game 7 at May 7* 4:30 ESPN Dalla s

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